


There's a Menace in My Bed

by brizamartian



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Evil Space Boyfriends, Hux attempts to be rude and indifferent, Hux pretends he isn't interested in Kylo, I find him endearing, Lots of character studying, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Some Humor, Spoiler alert: he does poorly, They clearly belong together, They're both terrible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-08 22:52:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 16,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5516222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brizamartian/pseuds/brizamartian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux hates everything about Kylo. Especially the things he doesn't hate.</p><p>Or; Hux is secretly an emotionally constipated child with a superiority complex and a mild to severe crush on a broody bucket head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Can You See His Silhouette?

**Author's Note:**

> So, I saw Star Wars: Episode VII, right? Within about a femtosecond of seeing Kylo and Hux I was in love with the pairing because I am shipper trash. I'm also not sorry at all. And I've been reading like ALL the fics, and at some point, as a writer, no matter how hard you try, you find that you MUST write something for a pairing. So I shat this thing out. Here is my thing. This thing will probably get longer. If all goes well (or poorly, lets be real here), it will get smutty and inappropriate and possibly too long for its own damn good. WHO KNOWS? This pairing is doing bad things to my brain. ENJOY.

Kylo doesn’t tell, so Hux doesn’t ask. He knows better than to care. He’s beginning to wonder if Kylo even needs a reason to destroy the ship in childish fits of rage, or if he’s perhaps on some kind of schedule, or has to meet a quota. _If he doesn’t destroy four communication consoles every six hours, someone’s going to have hell to pay._

Or something like that.

Hux, of course, knows better than to care.

However, the Jedi - sith - whatever, seems to be on the cusp of one of his fits now, and Hux isn’t pleased about it. He’s even less pleased by the fact that he can _tell_ when Kylo is about to break something, even _with_ the mask.

It’s in his shoulders. And the tightness of his hands in his gloves. Even the sound of his false-mechanical breathing sounds different. Hux doesn’t know how he knows these things; he has, over the course of several months, convinced himself that he’s done it through sheer necessity. Best to know when the sith might snap. It just so happens that Hux stares at Kylo an awful lot, for _safety_ reasons. And observes his mannerisms closely. And listens intently for his breathing when he’s near. For the safety of the crew. For his _own_ safety.

Or something.

Kylo’s shoulders hitch up to somewhere around where his ears most likely are - difficult to tell these things with the idiotic bucket on his head - before he lowers them and sighs loudly with a breath of static.

Hux rolls his eyes and purses his lips into his most recognizable face: disdain with a side of superiority complex and condescension.

Kylo’s such a child. He’s practically _begging_ Hux to ask him what his fucking problem is. 

Hux won’t do him the satisfaction.

Kylo starts pacing around the bridge once Hux has clasped his arms behind his back and fixated his dead stare on the stars beyond, clearly conveying his maturity and overall superiority to all things Kylo Ren.

He cuts an eye from side to side when Kylo isn’t looking and finds the bridge conveniently empty of people who _don’t_ have their eyes glued to screens and are effectively incapable of paying Kylo and Hux any mind. 

Of course.

Hux has noticed this. 

When the two are in a room together, bystanders are quick to find an out. Hux wonders what they think will happen; perhaps when polar opposites come into close contact they explode, or rip holes of the fabric of time. Or some other rubbish.

Kylo paces some more. Hux is certain he can feel him glaring, which is admittedly slightly disconcerting.

Finally, _finally_ , Hux gives in, unable to cope with the shear _annoyance_ he feels at Kylo's very existence at the moment.

“Can I _help_ you, Kylo Ren?” he asks as scathingly as possible.

Kylo’s boots go silent against the floor. He says nothing for a while. Hux shouldn’t be disappointed, but he wanted to have some kind of argument with Kylo; he can’t argue if Kylo remains mum. 

Finally, he says somewhat softly, “The force can do incredible things; why can’t I tap into it?”

“As if I could know the answer,” Hux sneers. What a stupid thing to say to someone like Hux; to him the Force is nothing more than some mildly practical magic to be exploited.

“No, you wouldn’t. So I’ll put it into words you _can_ understand: There are things I could do that would help ‘our cause.’”

“By which you mean kill more people in large quantities, yes?”

“Among other things.” Kylo practically waves the idea of mass killing off as a side note. Hux respects this at least. “Things I should be able to do, but can’t.”

Hux decides to play along. He’s at least passingly interested in all the ways Kylo might be capable of euphemistically _furthering the cause._

“I could stop lasers, I could-“

“Could you really? Sounds a bit insane, even for the ‘Force.’”

Kylo is almost certainly frowning disapprovingly at him. Or pouting. One or the other. Possibly both simultaneously. If only he’d take of the bloody bucket. “Do you doubt the power of the ‘Force’?”

“Maybe. Maybe I just doubt _your_ power.”

An officer within earshot who really _should_ be paying attention to their work, snaps their head up in alarm, probably fearing the sith would kill Hux for the jab. Hux has little to no fear at this point. Kylo _could_ kill him. He won’t. He doesn’t know why exactly, but he won’t.

“Perhaps I doubt my own,” he says, shocking Hux with the admission. Kylo isn’t one to admit weakness of any kind.

“Then _fix it_ ,” Hux says. Kylo is silent, a waiting kind of silent. “If you’re weak, become strong. Fix it.”

“Not everything’s a strategic point on a hologram you can send pawns to capture, General.”

“Not everything’s so bloody complicated. If there’s a enemy base, you send troops to crush it. If there’s a traitor, you find and kill him. If you can’t stop lasers with your magic powers, _figure it out._ ”

Hux hears something that sounds strangely like a laugh. “I see,” Kylo says. And then he turns away, cape fanning out dramatically behind him and Hux really can’t _stand_ that man.

Probably. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there will be more. How much more is anyone's guess. But I'm not done with these two yet...Sorry George Lucas, sorry J.J. Abrams.
> 
> If you liked, shoot me a comment. Comments are my life blood; I feed on them and become stronger. Also, they make me write inappropriate fanfiction. So that's always good.


	2. Setting Fire to My Head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a side note, songs inspire me. This fic is inspired by a song called Trouble by Halsey. It's lovely.
> 
> Thank you to the lovely members of the kylux family who commented and left kudos for me. I am very thankful. For the holiday season, here's some Kylo being a pain in Hux's ass and Hux pretending he doesn't feel things (also the beginnings of something called plot? Woah, how'd that happen?) ENJOY!

Hux really, _really_ should have known better than to encourage him. He should have known nothing good would come of it. His momentary lapse in sanity is costing him a great deal.

Finally, unable to stand it anymore, Hux turns sharply in place and makes his way into the empty practice room he knows Kylo’s making a complete mess of.

Troops and officers, the ones without helmets at least, glance at him curiously as he passes. The helmeted one’s manage to convey their glances without eyes. Hux glares at them all in turn and they whip their heads around as if slapped.

His already near-permanent frown deepens considerably, put off by their behavior, but he shakes it off when he hears another one of those _noises_.

Gritting his teeth, he overrides the lock on the door (he has some privileges as a general), and steps inside to find Kylo Ren repeatedly firing a laser at himself before attempting to stop it. 

Hux watches in morbid fascination as he only succeeds roughly half the time, and even then, it’s quite close. When he doesn’t succeed, he deflects it instead, however, if the faint scent of burning cloak is anything to go on, even that isn’t perfect.

Kylo stops. “General,” he says. “What do you want?”

Hux pinches the bridge of his nose, already exhausted. “For you to _cease_ for a moment.” Or several. Or forever.

Kylo tilts his head to the side and Hux feels him staring hard at him and he’s never hated the bucket more. He almost tells Kylo that. He hates Kylo, but the bucket is far worse. It prevents Hux from maintaining the upper hand, from being assured of his effectiveness against Kylo, of knowing what Kylo is thinking. Sure, he’s an open book, but even an open book is unreadable when shoved inside a silly black helmet with a voice filter. 

He expects Kylo to say something angry and rude, instead he says, “Why?”

“Why? Because I can’t bloody concentrate with that _noise_.”

Kylo takes a step closer to him; Hux stopped flinching a long time ago. “What _noise? _”__

Hux rolls his eyes. “Honestly…” Why does Kylo do things like this to him? He knows damn well what _noise_.

“You can hear me? From the bridge?” the sith asks.

“Of course I can, so can everyone from here to Tatooine.”

“No,” Kylo says. And he finally does it. Takes off the blasted bucket. And every time he does (which is nowhere near often), Hux experiences a brief moment of relief followed by the immediate feeling of _wrongness_. After he takes it off, he always wants him to put it back on. 

He doesn’t. He stares. Hux stares back, trying not to think anything as he looks into his eyes. Kylo furrows his dark eyebrows in annoyance and says. “There is no sound.”

“You’re not trying a mind-trick on me, are you?” Hux asks, unamused.

Kylo manages to look even more childish and angry. “No. There is no sound,” he repeats. “The Force isn’t heard.”

“Well I heard _something_ and it’s definitely you.”

Kylo looks down briefly, and then back up at him. Hux still doesn’t flinch. Not quite. “I need to talk with Snoke,” he says before sweeping out of the room with his helmet under his arm.

Their shoulders brush on his way out.

Hux doesn’t notice. Not quite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks so very much for reading and leave a comment if you wish to further the cause.
> 
> P.S. I think the cause has something to do with making more darksideboyfriend fics appear. It's a worthy cause, people.


	3. Would You Bleed For Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm...it appears I've changed the title of this fic and removed the series. Why? Because this was initially supposed to be a couple of one shots I collected into a short series but plot and kylux feels got in the way of that so now there are chapters. Fanfiction problems, am I right? Any who, enjoy Kylo-angsty-pants as he angsts everywhere.

Kylo waits until he’s out of the room, into the hall, and all alone to slam his fist into the wall beside him. Hard. He feels blood welling up underneath his gloves like hot, sticky clarity, and it clears his mind a touch. 

He breathes out heavily, just once, before returning his helmet to his head and relishing the sweet privacy of it.

Then he makes his way to Snoke.

Once he gets there, he realizes he isn’t sure what he wants to say. 

“Kylo Ren,” Snoke says as his hologram flickers before him.

“Master.” Kylo inclines his head.

“Something seems to be troubling you.”

“Yes, I…” he pauses as frustration stalls his tongue. He hates not knowing what to say. He tries to choose his words carefully “I’m…concerned I may not have as much control over the Force as I’d thought.”

Snoke observes him in a way that tells Kylo he likely already knows what this is about, and wants to make him voice it anyway. “Is that so?”

“I feel the Force in all things…but, there is the struggle within. If I could just…”

“You are powerful, Kylo Ren, but perhaps not tempered sharply enough.”

Kylo is silent for a beat. “I’ve been attempting to improve my control-“

“This isn’t about stopping lasers, is it now?” Snoke asks with a hint of amusement. Kylo doesn’t respond. Snoke continues. “This is about the General.”

“It’s got nothing to do with _him_!” he yells. “Not really.”

“Oh?”

Kylo chews the inside of his cheek furiously, as if it will make the words come clearer. “I simply…I think…I must have accidentally entered his mind,” he admits. He could see no other way Hux would have “heard” him using the Force. Frankly, Kylo was hardly making any noise at all and yet he’d drawn Hux to him. 

Snoke looks as if he’s heard a very amusing joke from a very small child. Kylo tastes blood on his tongue. “Inadvertently; it’s possible that you have.”

“It’s as if I can’t keep the Force contained.” He looks to the Supreme Leader imploringly; silently begging for answers. All he wants is a _solution_. Perhaps General Hux was right about that; he needs to fix it.

“Or, perhaps you simply can’t keep away from the General.”

“That’s insane!” he yells. “I _loath_ him. Always so sanctimonious,” he mutters. Other things he finds absolutely insufferable about the man, include, but are not limited to, the fact that they’re roughly the same age and yet Hux parades around like he’s a couple of decades older than everyone and a couple of centuries wiser. His hair is another reason. It’s always perfect. Kylo hates it, or more specifically hates the fact that he has an almost unquenchable urge to run his hands through it and make it _less_ perfect. One of these days he might slip, just to fuck up that hair. “…I loath that man,” he repeats.

If possible, Snoke looks even more amused. “I see,” he says. “Loathing is a strong, powerful emotion, one I find can be quite useful, if used correctly.” Kylo’s mind works to dissect Snoke’s words, trying to find more meaning in them. _Answers_. “I also find it to be wonderfully complex.”

“Complex?”

“Yes, you would do well to keep that in mind, Kylo Ren.”

Kylo leaves more frustrated than before. He has no idea what Snoke meant. He’ll have to contemplate it later, perhaps in the company of his grandfather. 

General Hux, of course, chooses that moment to walk past him, shooting a patronizing glare in his direction, not a hair out of place. 

Kylo bites his lip. It’d be so easy to push just a strand or two out of alignment. And so intensely satisfying, he’s sure. He’s certain, ludicrously so, that that would somehow fix everything. Like knocking Hux out of alignment would fix him. 

And then Hux rounds the corner and is gone, and Kylo hates himself for thinking about the fact that he’s never actually touched him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for more. Like literally a chapter a day if I keep up this ludicrous pace. Your continual support is very much appreciated, and know that I continue to flop around on the floor like a drunk fish whenever I get more comments and kudos on this little self indulgence of mine.


	4. Would You Lie For Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deary me! So many comments! I didn't get to respond to all of them this time for two reasons: (1) I was grinning like a loon and flopping around all day, and didn't even know what to do with myself, and (2) I ended up writing five chapters because I was so inspired. Goodness gracious. Thank you for all the support, my friends. The kylux fandom is fast becoming one of my faves. Now enjoy!

After hours of contemplation and conversation, one-sided of course, with his grandfather, Kylo wanders out of his quarters and toward the bridge.

He’s always had too much energy, too many thoughts, to ever sleep for long periods. 

He shouldn’t be so surprised to find Hux there, but he is. Hux is no creature of the night, no sleepless demon like Kylo, and yet he sits before the window, staring at nothing, cross-legged, like a little boy. 

It’s very odd. 

The silence, when it’s there, is heavy on the ship. There’s usually people milling about, but now there’s only the sound of space, the engine whirring, and the occasion clack of fingers or talons on keys belonging to those unfortunate enough to work at this particular time in the cycle.

Stupidly, as if to spite…someone, Kylo approaches Hux and sits down beside him, close enough to touch.

Hux turns and frowns at him, but he looks tired. He blinks a few times, slowly, and Kylo remembers he isn’t wearing the mask. His heart pounds as if he were caught naked. He hates the feeling, but Hux isn’t looking at him in any particular way. He’s just kind of looking. He does that, Kylo notices. He wonders what he’s looking for.

“I should’ve known you didn’t sleep,” Hux says. Kylo remains silent. Hux continues, “Nobody else heard it,” he adds.

“They wouldn’t have,” Kylo replies, replaying Snoke’s words again, still unsure of their meaning, but worrying nonetheless about their possible implications.

Hux narrows his eyes and it looks more scolding than menacing. “What did you do to me?” he asks, tone annoyed, as if Kylo was playing some kind of prank on him.

Kylo considers lying to him and then wonders why he’d bother. He doesn’t like Hux, Hux doesn’t like him, why should he care? “I accidentally invaded your mind.”

Hux frowns impressively and Kylo fights the urge to smirk at him. “Well don’t.”

“I said ‘accidentally,” didn’t I?”

“Well, if you do it again, I might ‘accidentally’ shoot you. I’m not entirely sure you could deflect it, either.”

Kylo rolls his eyes at the jab. Hux adores getting under his skin. Sometimes it works almost too well, making him want to strangle Hux on the spot, sometimes Kylo couldn’t be bothered to care. Whichever it ends up being is almost entirely arbitrary. 

“I’ll master it. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Well master staying the hell out of my head.”

Kylo glares. “I’m sure it’s not a very interesting place anyway.”

“Oh?” Hux practically snarls.

“I assume.”

“Shouldn’t you know, considering you’ve been rooting around in it?”

“I wasn’t rooting around!”

Hux blinks at him. “What _were_ you doing, then?”

“I don’t know. Nothing. It happened, and it won’t happen again.”

“Do you do that to everyone?” he asks, disgust seeping into his voice, though it’s impossible to tell whether he’d prefer Kylo _did_ do that to everyone or if he abhorred the idea.

“Of course I don’t. I don’t do that to anyone. I don’t even know what _that_ was.”

Hux screws his face up. “Why me? You _hate_ me.”

“Yes.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

“I’m aware of that, General. Frankly, I prefer it.”

“As do I.”

They’re silent for a while. Hux looks as if he’s thinking something over. Kylo shakes some of his hair in front of his face so Hux can’t tell he’s staring. He thinks about Hux’s hair. How perfect it looks. Then he thinks about how pale his skin is. How he’d originally thought his eyes were blue but turns out they’re a pale shade of green. How red his hair is. A lot of things he should _not_ be thinking about. 

It would be so easy to run his hand through his hair. To pull on it until it hurt with Hux staring back at him with pain in his eyes, but also something else…

Kylo closes his eyes for a moment in a vain attempt to make the images go away. When he opens them again Hux is looking back at him. 

“What?” he snaps, angry and frustrated and feeling far too raw and exposed.

“Are you purposefully insufferable, or it that just your personality?” Hux asks.

“Perhaps your just a poor judge of character, General Ginger.”

Hux’s eyes widen. “What did you call me?” he asks in what can only be described as utter disbelief.

Kylo turns his head away for a moment, fighting the urge to bite his own tongue off. He was thinking about his hair, as usual. It slipped out, as far to much seems to be when it comes to Hux.

“I would compliment you on your clever wordplay if it weren’t so insanely stupid,” Hux says.

Kylo turns back to him, saying nothing.

Hux sighs loudly, like everything’s a burden. “I’m going to bed,” he says.

“You have something in your hair.” Kylo reaches out and brushes a nonexistent foreign body from Hux’s hair, dislodging a few soft, ginger locks from their assigned places, and trying not to shiver. 

Hux looks up at his hairline for a split second as if he could see whatever was stuck in his hair, and then glares at Kylo with poorly repressed rage.

“Don’t touch me,” he says after a beat, and then gets up and presumably storms off in a semi-contained hissy fit like manner. 

“Funny,” Kylo says under his breath. “Because you didn’t move away.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Even if I don't get to respond to comments, know that I continue to read them (several hundred times each) and consume them, convert them into energy, and spit out more chapters.


	5. Stick a Needle In Your Hungry Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 300 kudos in five days?! What?! Thank you people. Like for real. THANK YOU. On another note, I have changed the rating of this fic. You can probably guess why. If you're not ok with sexy times, I'd stop reading. If you are ok with sexy times, please continue; the smut will ere on the milder side for this fic; I won't be getting into explicit territory. We all good? Alright, ENJOY!

Hux’s heart pounds out a furious rhythm in his chest and it’s all that damn sith’s fault. Damn him, damn his eyes, damn his hands, and his bloody force powers too.

He passes Captain Phasma on his way to his quarters.

“Everything alright, sir?” she asks, a strange tone to her voice.

“Perfectly fine,” he says. “Don’t you have a post to stand at?”

Phasma inclines her head slightly and walks off.

Hux grits his teeth the rest of the way.

When he makes it to his quarters he locks the door, makes sure no one will bother him, and takes several deep breaths. 

That man’s going to give him an aneurism. 

He walks into his private bathroom feeling like an exposed nerve. He strips and steps into the shower like he can wash Kylo’s proximity off. How dare he get so close? How dare he touch him? And bloody hell, _why_ does Hux even care so much?

He scrubs his hair with more force than absolutely necessary. Tugging at it, pulling whatever remains of Kylo Ren from it. It feels good to do so. Feels good to imagine washing him away. Feels good to imagine Kylo’s hand’s in his hair instead. Feels good to-

_What?_

“Bloody hell,” Hux whispers to himself. Now he’s fantasizing about him? Just what he needs. That brooding bastard’s obviously fucking with him… 

Hard. 

In the ass. 

Possibly against a wall, but maybe over a table. Maybe in bed where they belong. Maybe-

No, Hux has to draw a line somewhere. Dirty thoughts about Kylo Ren have to be that line. Killing lots of people? Sure. Torture? Why not? Dirty thoughts of Kylo Ren? No, too far.

He’s so hard, though. It’d be so easy to just reach down and-

Touching himself thinking about Kylo is the new line. 

He crosses it within .2 seconds of realizing it exists.

He’ll hate himself later, but he thinks of Kylo’s hands anyway. And his eyes and everything else. Everything but the fucking bucket. The bucket can go kill itself.

He imagines fucking Kylo, because that would be better. He imagines making him beg, submit, _surrender._

_Hux,_ Kylo would whisper, _please._ And Hux would give him what he wanted and possibly make him beg some more because Kylo begging him for anything is nearly enough to-

“Fuck, Kylo…” he moans.

He doesn’t admit that he said his name when he came. He doesn’t admit any of it to himself. Except perhaps the part where he dominated Kylo in every way possible. That was probably ok.

That might almost be ok. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The number of comments and kudos is blowing my mind. It's amazing and I love you guys, each and everyone of you. Thank you so, SO much for the kind and slightly crazy words. I am WITH you guys and please continue your insane support.


	6. I've Got My Mind Made Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what they say, a chapter a day keeps the kylux feels away (she lied). Which is why I've posted two chapters. I apologize.

The meeting room is tense the next morning. Or it least it is in Hux’s mind.

He feels like Kylo’s looking at him the whole time, but it’s impossible to tell, and he hates that he’s at the mercy of Kylo’s hidden eyes.

He hate’s everything about everything right now. 

“We’ve located the base, or the general area we’re likely to find it,” Phasma continues, unaware of the thoughts flying around Hux’s brain. 

“What’s the size of the area we’ve narrowed it down to?” Hux asks, hoping immersing himself in the business of finding and killing rebels will solve his current problem. Problem being he may possibly, perhaps, probably, maybe want to have dirty nasty sex with a guy who casually wears a bucket on his head. It’s a _serious_ problem.

“Roughly five square kilometers,” Phasma responds.

“That’s much larger than usual. Why can’t we pinpoint it with better accuracy?” He leans forward and tries to look professional and intimidating; he’s pretty sure he just looks uncomfortable. 

“It’s well hidden. The planet’s magnetic field is also unusually powerful, our instruments are having difficulty detecting it.”

“Have we sent troops down to investigate?”

“We await your order to do so,” the captain says.

Hux opens his mouth to give the order when he comes up with a better idea. “I’ll personally accompany you.”

Phasma is silent and Kylo is _definitely_ looking at him now. His whole head’s turned in his direction. 

“Sir-“ Phasma begins.

“It’s a fairly routine mission, I know, but still I feel the change of pace would be welcome.” He glares at her, daring her to disagree.

“Very well, sir, if you’d like,” she says mildly. Perhaps she doesn’t care either way. Besides, she couldn’t know that Hux only asked because he needs to get away from Kylo for a few hours. He desperately needs a distraction, something to clear his mind of all these inane thoughts about Kylo and his various body parts.

“I believe that concludes the meeting.” Hux stands.

“We’ll be meeting at docking bay C in one hour, sir,” Phasma says on her way out.

“Understood.”

“Suffering from a bit of cabin fever, General?” Kylo comes up behind him and stands firmly in Hux’s personal space, like he thinks he’s somehow earned the right. Hux’s heart hammers with the desire to hit him. 

“You could say that, Lord Ren. A change of scenery would be nice. Some dead rebels, laser fire, the like.”

“Agreed. I’ll be coming with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Phasma had already asked that accompany her. She thinks perhaps I’ll be able to sense the rebel base before our scanners once we’re on the ground.” Kylo tilts his head to the side in an almost mocking manner. “That won’t be a problem, will it General?”

Hux is at a lose for words. He’s dug this grave himself; if he changes him mind, Kylo will know he’s trying to get away from him, if he doesn’t already, and Hux can’t allow Kylo to think that’s he’s won. Hux doesn’t lose. So he says, “No problem at all,” and walks away, silently cursing his mistake, Kylo Ren, and anything else that might care to listen. 


	7. Would You Beg or Would You Crawl?

Hux sits across from him, arms crossed tightly over his chest and sneaking glances at Kylo every couple of seconds. His frown deeper than should be humanly possible and he looks about ready to order someone’s execution. Kylo get’s the feeling it’s his.

Despite this, Kylo’s content. He’ll have an opportunity to put his recent training to good use, and he’s fairly certain Hux is mad at him for the night before. Which at least means Kylo _affected_ him, which is always a small victory.

“We’ll be landing in two minutes,” comes Phasma’s voice over the speaker.

No one responds. 

Once they land, Phasma exits the ship first, followed by several of her troops, then Kylo with Hux trailing behind. 

Kylo feels around, pushing the Force to the edge of his consciousness and beyond, trying to get a feel from the surroundings.

Suddenly Hux is close behind him. “You’re doing it again,” he hisses. Kylo turns around. “You’re in my head again,” he clarifies.

Kylo’s eyes widen behind the helmet. He hadn’t meant to, yet again, but somehow he was still getting stuck in Hux’s head. He let’s himself stay for a moment. He can’t hear any of Hux’s thoughts like this, but he _feels_ them, moving around his head like a steady current, like waves. It’s, in a word, comfortable.

He snaps his head around and pulls back out. Hux sighs like it’s a relief. Kylo turns his head ever so slightly and notices Hux actually doesn’t look all that relieved, in fact, he looks even more pissed off than before. Maybe the sigh wasn’t relief after all.

Kylo’s about to bring it up, possibly use this information against him when he _does_ sense something.

He looks up at the sky trying to find the source.

“What is it? What do you see?” Hux asks, looking up.

Phasma comes closer, blaster ready. “Sensors are picking something up,” she says.

Kylo closes his eyes, trying to pinpoint it before- 

“Bomb!”

He senses it too late. The bomb falls, a split second of silence passes before the ship blows up behind them and everything goes red. 

Kylo falls backwards, barely able to stop the blast from frying them all, but it looks like his practice paid off in the end.

He’s disoriented for a minute, ears ringing loudly. He thinks he barely sees Phasma, still on her feet, trying to access the damage and casualties. At least half the troops are lying face down on the ground; they were out of Kylo’s range and got swept up by the shockwave unprotected.

Kylo looks for Hux and when he doesn’t see him, he panics for a full five seconds before he reminds himself that he shouldn’t care if he’s dead. The reminder goes unheard by his fear, however. His heart races as he realizes that Hux had been standing closer to the ship than anyone else, that he may have been blown to bits before Kylo stopped the blast in its tracks. 

“Hux?” he coughs, debris stuck in his filter. He takes off his helmet. “Hux?” He realizes a moment later that there’s an easier way to find him. He uses the Force, hoping it will pick him up, get stuck on his consciousness like it seems so wont to do lately. After several painful, silent seconds pass, Kylo senses him close by, very close in fact, but the dust must be obscuring him.

“Lord Ren!” Phasma calls from somewhere in the dust cloud, “Are you alive?”

“I’m alive,” he yells back.

“And the general?” 

Kylo crouches down, spots Hux’s red hair against the gray. He crawls closer. Hux coughs once. “He’s alive.”

Hux coughs again, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. There’s blood caked on the side of his face, but he looks otherwise unharmed. “Kylo?”

“We have to go. Now,” Kylo insists. He looks up. “There are more coming.”

“More? How? They’re not supposed to have this much firepower,” Hux says, frowning.

Kylo actually rolls his eyes at him. “Hux, consider your failure to recognize the strength of this base later, right now, we have to _go_.”

Hux glares meanly at him and looks about ready to say “Excuse me?” in that tone of his, but instead he drags himself to his feet and asks, “Which way?”

Kylo searches for Phasma and the remaining troops. “That way,” he points once he’s located them.

Hux stumbles once and takes a hold of Kylo’s sleeve, swaying slightly, probably due to the head wound. “Lead the way,” he says with false bravado.

Kylo briefly allows himself into Hux’s mind, just long enough to see how bad it is. The waves are crashing unevenly now, like a storm had come. It’s no longer pleasant.

He drags Hux along, toward the tree-line where the other’s had scrambled to. The dust clears slightly and Kylo can now see them without using the Force.

There’s only Phasma and six troops left. One of them is screaming, clutching his missing leg while the other’s try to stop the bleeding.

Phasma jogs over to Kylo and Hux. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Kylo says. Hux opens his mouth to say the same right as Kylo shoots his hand out to catch him a second before he finally collapses. 

“He’s not fine,” Kylo says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pointlessly dramatic cliff hangers are a specialty of mine. Can you tell? As always, the comments on this fic are literally killing me, like I can barely function. I was reading comments yesterday and my brother was in the room looking at me like I'd lost my goddamn mind. Holy shit, thanks as always guys, you're all my best friends and that's why I posted two chapters. (That and I may or may not have already written up to chapter 12. Oops, where'd my life go?)


	8. I Wouldn't Leave You if You Let Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The problem with writing chapters in advance is that you start to second guess yourself and your choices. Even when you're absolutely certain of what you want, you start to wonder if you want something else. That's all I'm going to say. Enjoy!

The reinforcements are currently engaged with the rebel forces. There was a major miscalculation on a few people’s parts. Turns out the base was well stocked with illegal weaponry, probably supplied by smugglers and pirates. There were several dozen more inhabitants than initially thought.

The reinforcements should be able to handle them, but it could take a while. Which is why Kylo’s there. Phasma sent Hux back to Star Killer base. 

While they’d waited for the reinforcements, hidden in the trees, Kylo had allowed himself to peak into Hux’s mind every so often. It helped that Hux’s head had been in his lap and Kylo’s hand had been in his hair, picking flakes of blood out. He doesn’t think about this too closely.

Hux woke up every now and again while they waited, briefly, and never tried to move away. Kylo realized for the first time that he doesn’t like to see him in pain that he isn’t causing. It’s wrong. Kylo can hurt Hux if he wants to, but nobody else. 

When they came to take Hux to the ship, he’d woken up and looked Kylo dead in the eye. “Kill them,” he had said. “Please.”

“Of course, General.”

Hux’s hand lingered on his sleeve. He didn’t want to go, but Kylo could still feel the tempest in his head, so he said, “Go, I’ll take care of the rebels.”

Hux sighed and was gone.

Kylo had tried not the think about him when he started cutting down rebels one by one, deflecting their blasts, stopping their bombs, slicing off their heads, but he couldn’t help but see the blood and feel the crashing waves and his hand clutching his sleeve. _Kill them. Please._

Now, he’s stopped trying not to think of him. He thinks of him and he kills more rebels. The bodies pile up and he keeps thinking about him and finally understands what Snoke meant. Loathing is complex, it’s powerful, it can drive him. 

He hates Hux, but there’s so much more too it than that, and it makes him stronger and faster. He kills because they hurt Hux and Hux wants them dead. It’s enough. Kylo smiles when he kills them, feels the dark side creeping in, reddening the edges of his vision. 

Hux is terrible and Kylo might love it.

When the final rebel falls to Phasma’s blaster she calls the troops back. “We’re done here,” she says. Her chrome armor is smeared with dust and grime and she looks slightly scarier than usual, even with the helmet. Kylo goes to stand beside her as they wait for their ship. “Someone’s made a very costly mistake,” she says observing the bodies of not only fallen rebels, but her own troops. 

“Indeed.” 

“Unless, of course, it wasn’t a mistake.”

Kylo looks at her. She takes off her helmet. She’s done this so few times that Kylo often forgets what she looks like. Her short blonde hair is plastered to her head with sweat and she’s looking intently at the scene of destruction before her. “This may be more than a simply miscalculation.”

“A traitor?”

“Or a hacker. Someone who has access to our data and altered it. A spy. Maybe a traitor. I’m not certain yet. Hux simply assessed the data he was given, the data was obviously incorrect.”

“He won’t be pleased,” Kylo says. The idea almost makes him giddy. 

“No, he won’t.” 

The ship arrives and takes them back to Star Killer base. 

“Where’s the General?” Kylo asks two stormtroopers as soon as he arrives.

They look at each other briefly before one answers, “Well he was in the med-bay, but I believe he asked to return to his quarters.”

Kylo sweeps past them towards Hux’s quarters. He knocks when he gets to the door.

“Come in, Kylo,” Hux says sounding a touch annoyed.

Kylo walks in and asks, “How did you know it was me?”

“It seems you still haven’t mastered keeping the fuck out of my head,” he says, but he doesn’t sound particularly angry about it this time. “Are all the rebels dead?” he asks. He’s sitting cross-legged on his bed with a portable console in front of him, shifting quickly through various files and data banks. There’s a bandage on his head and he looks even paler than usual, but otherwise fine.

“Of course. I made sure of that.” He takes a few steps closer and Hux doesn’t protest.

“Excellent.”

“Phasma is considering the possibility of a spy or hacker.”

“Yes. This data’s been corrupted,” he says blandly.

Kylo attempts to feel around Hux’s mind for a bit without being detected, but obviously it doesn’t work because Hux looks up and glares. “Stop it, Kylo.”

“Just making sure your brain’s in order.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a mild concussion.”

Kylo almost expresses his relief, but stops himself.

“Do you think it could be a traitor?” Kylo asks.

“More likely a spy who’s infiltrated the base,” he answers. “Most likely. Though I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a traitor.” Kylo inhales sharply and Hux smirks. “You don’t much like the idea of traitors, do you?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well, neither do I.”

“I’ll find them,” Kylo proclaims.

“Of that I am certain,” Hux replies. 

“What does it feel like?” Kylo asks, unable to stop himself. “When I’m in your head?”

Hux blinks at him for several seconds. Finally, he says, "It feels like your right next to me, even when your not.”

“…I see.”

Hux looks away and takes a few deep breaths, something else obviously bothering him. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not overly fond of near death experiences,” Hux says, wearily. He looks small now, sitting like that, head wrapped in a bandage. Kylo wants to hold him, or perhaps crush him, make him disappear. 

Kylo snorts. “I am.”

“I’m aware. I’m certain all you Force users are certifiably insane.”

Kylo shrugs slightly.

Hux frowns. “If you want to come over here, just do it.”

“You said not to touch you.”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Kylo goes and sits beside him. Hux turns off the console. “If I asked you to kiss me, would you?”

Kylo very nearly falls over. “It’s possible…” he hedges. He tries to appear collected on the outside, but inside, he feels the need to break something into small pieces. Either Hux is playing a cruel practical joke on him, or this is some new and intensely complicated form of manipulation, one he can’t see the end of and isn’t sure he wants to. The only thing he sees is Hux and his greenish eyes and ginger hair and the possibility of pinning him to the bed and making him beg. 

He doesn’t know how to deal with this man, but then again, maybe it’s futile to try.

“Do you hate me?” he asks.

“Yes,” Kylo replies without hesitation.

There’s a pause, then: “Good, I don’t think I could stand it if you decided to like me. Now kiss me.” 

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was satisfactory; this is MY favorite chapter, but my opinion is irrelevant. What did YOU think?


	9. Lick It Off My Lips Like You Needed Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My hand slipped and this chapter happened. Sorry. Also, like, the comments and kudos are just asdfghjkl. THANK YOU. I'm having a blast writing this shit because of you awesome people reading it. I can't even function, I'm so happy. Enjoy!

Hux let’s all the protests against this go. There are a million reasons not to sleep with Kylo Ren, but he’ll be damned if he thinks of a single one of them before he’s done it. He’ll despise himself later. Right now he needs his skin and his eyes and even his powers, that almost disgusting feeling of closeness he has when Kylo’s in his head. 

Because as Hux lay bleeding on the ground of a insignificant planet somewhere at the edge of the galaxy, he realized he could have died and that scared him more than he’d like to admit. Hux became a general to be powerful, but he’d never felt as weak as he did just hours before. If Kylo hadn’t been there, he _would_ be dead.

He needs Kylo’s strength now. Needs to use it and corrupt it and bend it to his own will, because then Hux will be strong and the fear will go away. Or maybe he just needs to stop thinking. So he lets Kylo take off his clothes as he kisses him, licks into his mouth with his tongue and enter his mind again, just existing there, together, making it _better_.

Hux pushes off Kylo’s ridiculous, impractical cloak and he hears Kylo’s boots thump to the ground a second later. He quickly develops a burning hatred for the clothing between them.

Hux climbs on top of him, palms on either side of his face, tasting his skin as Kylo tugs him closer by the hair, not caring about the gash in his head. It doesn’t bother Hux. Kylo won’t be tender or caring with him; he doesn’t know how. And Hux isn’t sure he would want it. Right now, he wants to do whatever he feels like and let Kylo do the same, because it makes him feel alive and not like he’d nearly died earlier.

Kylo bites his neck and then kisses it. Hux moans his plea for more, digging his nails into Kylo’s shoulders leaving red welts in his wake.

Kylo takes off his trousers and then they’re both naked. Kylo pushes him away slightly, one hand resting on the side of Hux’s face, his thumb brushes over his forehead. “Tell me what you want,” he says, voice low and corse as sandpaper; it sounds almost like a threat.

Hux shakes his head. “Frankly, I’d take just about anything right now.” He hopes he doesn’t sound too desperate. 

Kylo tilts his head to the side and sighs. Then he takes them both in his hands and gets them off.

Hux doesn’t moan his name this time; he bites his lip until it bleeds to prevent that from happening. Kylo just gasps.

Hux lays down on top of him when they’re finished, breathing hard. Kylo’s hand is still playing in his hair and he kisses his neck before he starts worrying at it lightly with his teeth.

“I thought you’d fuck me,” Hux says after a moment.

Kylo moves away from his neck slightly, whispers against it, “I won’t fuck you until you beg me to.”

Hux shivers. “That’s not going to happen.” He _knows_ he doesn’t sound as sure as he’d like to. 

“Hmm.” Kylo hums noncommittally and goes back to his neck and hair.

“What is it with you and my hair?” Hux asks slowly, suddenly feeling very sleepy.

“It looks good like this, General Ginger. Like we just had sex. You should wear it like this more often.”

“Shut up, Kylo,” he says, but it’s halfhearted. He rolls over and wipes himself clean with the corner of his sheets. “I’m going to sleep,” he says.

“Fine.”

He briefly hears Kylo shuffling around in the sheets. Then he feels his arm go around his waist. 

Kylo bites his ear. 

Hux is pretty sure that’s how Kylo Ren says goodnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So [Luci](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Luci/pseuds/Luci) wanted to know if I had a tumblr (P.S. Thank you for your comment, Luci!). I DO! It's: 
> 
> [brizamartian.tumblr.com](http://brizamartian.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I hadn't been on tumblr for like a year before Star Wars came out and then Star Wars came out and I got back on tumblr. So feel free to follow me or shoot me a question or something. I'm around. 
> 
> As always thanks so much, I'm dying. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU.


	10. Would You Pin Me to a Wall?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I have Kylo and Hux talk exclusively in circles and never actually _say_ anything. Enjoy these idiots "talking"!(?)

When Hux wakes up in the morning, he’s overly astonished to find that Kylo’s still there, breathing hot, moist breaths on his back. 

Hux turns around to find he’s awake. “You really don’t sleep, do you?”

Kylo narrows his eyes and says nothing. Hux already wonders if he regrets this.

“Why are you still here?” 

“You want me to leave?” he asks like he already knows the answer. Hux could prove him wrong, if he wanted to.

“Do what you want,” he says instead, and turns back around. It’s technically over an hour before he actually gets up, and even that’s about an hour before the vast majority of the base’s inhabitants get up. 

Kylo pulls at a strand of his hair at the nape of his neck. “How long have you wanted to sleep with me?” he asks mildly.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Snoke seems to support the idea.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

“I’m pretty sure you know exactly how you feel about it. Let’s stop beating around the proverbial bush, shall we?”

“That’s awfully hypocritical of you, General,” Kylo observes. And he’s right, of course, but shower wanks and near death experiences do things to you. Also, Kylo’s little mind trick thing certainly isn’t helping. Kylo seems to have very nearly taken up permanent residence in the corner of his consciousness. He doesn’t feel like Kylo’s prodding, more that he’s just _there_. It’s not entirely unwelcome. 

“Perhaps,” he says. 

Kylo sighs and rests his hand on his neck. Hux is aware Kylo could kill him whenever he pleases. He’s also aware that Kylo will never do that. He might hurt him, he wouldn’t put it past him, but he couldn’t kill him. It gives Hux a strange thrill of satisfaction knowing that he’s wormed his way into Kylo as much as Kylo’s wormed his way into him.

Kylo touches a bruise he’d left on his neck the night before. “I’m sure this one will show over your collar.”

Hux frowns. “You did that on purpose.”

“Probably.”

“Marking your territory?” he half-jokes.

“Maybe I am,” he says seriously.

“I never said I was yours.”

“Do you really have to? That rather impressive stick up your ass makes it’s difficult for me to imagine you’ve been fucking around with anyone else.”

“Very funny.”

“Your neuroses make it even more difficult to believe.”

“What neuroses? Your the one who wears a bucket on his head and talks to his dead grandfather.”

Kylo half-chuckles, surprisingly unoffended. “I suppose that’s why we’re in bed together.”

“Are you implying I have a bucket fetish? Because I hate that fucking thing.”

“I’m implying that you’re an insane, horrible, evil and manipulative person.”

“Yes, and?”

“So am I. You strengthen the darkness in me.”

“Ah. So we’re perfect together?” Hux has never heard anything cornier in his life.

Kylo yawns. “Something like that.” Then he goes silent.

A few quiet moments pass before Hux has to ask, “Are you seriously going to sleep _now_?”

“No,” he answers, two seconds before he falls asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year Everyone! Looking forward to what 2016 brings. Hopefully I bring you some Kylux joy, as this has become my goal in life. Please keep up your continued support (and in some cases live sacrifices).


	11. Lay Me On the Couch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Readers, (and new tumblr followers) hello, salutations, greetings, and all that. Thank you for sticking with me, I love you guys! Enjoy!

Kylo ends up spending most of the day with Captain Phasma, searching for the traitor/spy. It’s quite involved and a lot of it revolves around Kylo interrogating suspects, _forcefully_. So far, there’s been no luck. 

Naturally, Kylo ends up destroying the interrogation room. Again.

He returns to Hux’s quarters that night feeling like a kicked Ewok. Then he realizes he returned to _Hux’s_ room instead of his own without thinking and has to stop himself from destroying something else. Hux has already gotten far too close; he’s corrupting him. He’s not sure if this is a bad thing or not, though. 

He briefly toys with the idea of running off to the practice room to beat the shit out of something, but in the end he just sighs and knocks.

“What, Kylo?” comes Hux’s reply, which Kylo takes as permission to enter. Hux is still fully dressed, working at his desk, hands flying over keys furiously. “Stop destroying the interrogation room,” he says in greeting.

“We haven’t had any luck finding the culprit,” Kylo says by way of explanation.

Hux glares at him menacingly. “I’m aware of that, Ren. That’s not the point. We’re not going to have any interrogation rooms left by the time you _do_ find the culprit.”

Kylo rolls his eyes and takes off his helmet, setting it on Hux’s desk. Hux glares at it like it killed his family. 

Kylo sits down on the bed. 

“Did you need something else?” Hux asks from the desk.

“You to have sex with me?” Kylo asks semi-hopefully, not holding his breath. The night before may have been a fluke. He wouldn’t put it past Hux to bone him once and then pretend like it never happened. He’s starting to wonder if that would be better. He already feels like everyone’s watching them even though nobody can _possibly_ know they kind of slept together.

“Not now, I’m busy,” he answers.

“I figured you’d say that.” 

Hux sighs, but doesn’t turn around. “What are we doing?” he mutters.

Kylo doesn’t answer because he doesn’t actually have one. He’s better off not thinking about it too closely. “You can’t work all night,” he says instead. 

“I’m aware. Which is why I said ‘not now,’ instead of ‘no’.”

Kylo buries his face in the sheets, smothering any possible positive facial expression. “Fair enough,” he grumbles. He tries to doze off, and he does a few times, but he jolts awake before a nightmare can take hold of him; his body’s effectively trained itself to wake him up every two minutes. It’s a gift and a burden. Though, he slept alright for an hour or so this morning, when Hux was there, his mind calm and quickly becoming extremely familiar. He might be able to sleep more if Hux is there with him.

He’s half-asleep when Hux finally comes over, grabbing him by the hair and tugging him up rather roughly. “Sex, right?” he whispers directly into his ear, pulling on his hair.

Kylo shivers and grins wickedly at him. “Oh, yes. But I don’t hear you begging.”

“As I said, not going to happen, but feel free to offer your ass to me whenever you wish.” 

Kylo pushes him over and climbs on top. “No.”

“Fine.”

So instead they make out some, get naked and jerk each other off again. Which is, of course, fine with Kylo Ren.

“Maybe you’ll suck my dick next time,” Kylo says once he’s sated and a little bit sleepy. Hux is laying on his arm with his hair sticking up in every direction and a rather satisfied look on his face.

“Maybe you’ll stop destroying the bloody interrogation room.”

Kylo turns to look at him. His eyes are already closed; he looks very beautiful. It’s unsettling, but Kylo might have to keep him alive. “Good night, General,” he says.

“Good night, Ren.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, are you tired of semi-fluffy kylux yet? Because I'm not. However there will be some plot (what?) stuff soon, so stay tuned! 
> 
> P.S. Also, there will be Captain Phasma.


	12. Stick Your Fingers in My Mouth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have written this chapter when I was a bit drunk. I edited it sober though, I promise. (There may still be errors however because you may have noticed I can't really edit regardless of my level of sobriety). Enjoy my drunken chapter (and sassy Phasma).

Kylo gets antsy looking for the culprit. Captain Phasma assures him they will find them in due time, but Kylo doesn’t like the feeling of violation he has knowing someone may be here who doesn’t belong. 

He’s destroyed yet another interrogation room (fortunately they have several), and frankly didn’t want to hear any of Hux’s shit tonight, so he wandered to the mess hall with Captain Phasma, who removed her helmet, shook out her cropped hair and said “Worried you’ll be sleeping on the couch, are you?”

Kylo’s eyes snap up to her face, though she can’t tell through the helmet (he doesn’t eat here, he’s just killing time.) “What?”

She shrugs. “I’m sure he doesn’t like you destroying his precious base, regardless of how good the sex is.” She observes him as if she can see through the helmet. “Oh, yes, I know you’re sleeping with the general. It’s fairly apparent.”

Kylo doesn’t really know what to say so he just says “How?”

“As I said, _apparent._ I mean, it’s no business of mine, but,” She smirks slightly, “I find it amusing given your… _habits_. The general likes everything in order, you like to destroy. You’re an odd pair. Though…maybe not.” She gestures vaguely with her fork.

Kylo could say a lot of things, but he finds his tongue tied. He gets up with a grunt and storms off to Hux’s room, and on his way he swears he hears Phasma chuckle.

He doesn’t bother knocking when he gets to his door. He knows Hux is at his desk working, and Hux probably knows he’s there anyway. This odd Force bond they have has settled into some kind of rhythm; he’s able to sense Hux without trying and it appears to be a two-way bond. He hasn’t yet spoken to the Supreme Leader about it. It’s on his to-do list; he’s been preoccupied with the goddamn spy/traitor.

Hux sighs at him when he enters. “Should I even bother?”

“No,” Kylo snaps.

“What’s wrong with you?” Hux asks, not looking at him. 

“Phasma knows.”

“Knows what?”

“About,” he gestures between the two of them, “ _This_.”

Hux turns from his desk and frowns. “Does she? Observant woman,” he says looking slightly perturbed. He taps his fingers on the desk. “I’ll assume she’s the only one,” he says, then nods and goes back to his work as if he’s solved the problem.

“Your propensity for denial is impressive, General,” Kylo chirps sarcastically.

“I’m not denying anything,” Hux bites back. “I just don’t want to deal with this right now. I have other problems.”

“Indeed.” Kylo practically _hears_ Hux roll his eyes. “I’m going to go talk to Snoke,” he decides, getting up to leave.

“Whatever helps.”

“Helps what?”

Hux doesn’t even look up at him this time, he just waves a careless hand at Kylo’s person. “That.”

Kylo grits his teeth and storms out of yet another room. Regardless of whatever _other_ feelings Kylo may have developed for the General, he still hates him. _Intensely_.

He heads to the hologram room and Snoke appears before him. “It appears you took my words to heart, Kylo Ren,” he says without preamble.

“I suppose I have. I believe I understand what you meant, but…this bond…”

“It’s quite impressive,” Snoke says. “Even if it was forged unintentionally.”

“What is it?” Kylo asks, hoping for a direct answer.

He doesn’t receive one. “Most are like you; they don’t realize what it is until much later, though it seems quite obvious to me.” Kylo frowns. Snoke observes him calmly. “In due time, Kylo Ren,” he says.

Kylo goes to the practice room and destroys several dozen sparring droids before he goes back to Hux’s room. When he get’s there, Hux is asleep on just one side of the bed like he’s waiting for him. 

Kylo sighs and seethes silently even as he undresses and climbs into bed with him.

He doesn’t kiss him goodnight, but he kind of wants to.

Then Hux opens his eyes blearily. “I can’t stand you,” he says.

“I know.”

Hux grabs him and kisses him, hard. Kylo lets him. Kylo will probably always let him, because he wants him in every way possible. 

Hux is in a bad mood; Kylo can tell by the way he doesn’t wait until he’s gotten all his clothes off to grab Kylo’s by the hair and growl, “Suck my dick.”

Kylo is also in a bad mood, and this is probably why he does without arguing.

“Stop destroying my base,” Hux says after. 

Kylo says nothing; he lightly scratches patterns into Hux’s pale, pale back. Hux shivers and turns around. The skin on his chest is still flushed pink. “What did the Supreme Leader say?” he asks, laying his head on his arm.

“Our bond is strong.”

“And what the fuck does that mean?”

“I have no idea.”

“Right.”

Hux blinks once, then twice, slower, before his eyes settle closed.

“Are you always going to fall asleep right after sex?” Kylo asks, carding his fingers through his hair as usual.

“You’re tiring,” Hux replies, eyes still closed. 

“And yet you keep me around.”

“I can’t imagine why,” he yawns. “Go to sleep, Ren.”

Kylo sighs, touching Hux’s still-pink cheek once before settling his arm around his shoulder. “Yes, General.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a quick heads up, I may not get a new chapter up on time (meaning tomorrow) because I'm not finished with the next few chapters and I prefer to be ahead. I may need a bit of extra time; I apologize and please bear with me. Thanks as always for your wonderful, crazy support, my friends. I'll be back soon.


	13. You Look So Good When You're Reading Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, I apologize for the delay! I was having some personal problems and a bit of writer's block, but I am back with a new chapter, some plot and introspective Hux! Enjoy!

This time when Hux wakes up, Kylo is gone. 

He tries not to be too upset about it, but he’d grown somewhat fond of catching Kylo asleep; somehow that feels more intimate than anything else they’d done. There’s also the fact that Kylo well and truly does not sleep.

Hux had been joking somewhat when he’d said it first. He supposed Kylo was putting up a front; the tortured Sith Lord who never rests. He figured Kylo just slept at odd times or wandered around a bit at night to maintain that air, but the truth was, each and every time - three times now - he’s gone to bed with Kylo, Kylo was awake when he fell asleep and awake when he awoke. He’d slept a bit _after_ Hux had already woken up and once, last night, Hux had awoken randomly to find Kylo dozing, but within minutes he was blinking himself into consciousness. 

Against all logic, Hux was somewhat… _concerned_. He also wondered idly if that was why Kylo was so bloody inclined to break anything and everything. Lack of sleep does make one irritable. Hux feels he should bring this up, but he hasn’t yet come up with a rude enough way to phrase it in order to hide the… _concern._ He could lament the destruction of his base, but Kylo’s figured him out enough to know it’s mostly a lie now. 

Hux sighs and gets up to dress.

He knows he’s made a mistake. He knows he shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing with Kylo; he doesn’t want to put a name on it yet, but it’s _something_. He knows it’s dangerous to get so close to someone as volatile as Kylo Ren, but then, he couldn’t see himself getting close to any other kind of person. He shouldn’t get close to people at all, really, but that bloody, bucket-headed, brooding sith has wormed his way in in all the right ways.

He leaves the room, walking down the hall and shuffling papers angrily. Captain Phasma comes around the corner and stops rigidly before Hux. “We’ve found the culprit,” she says. 

Hux’s eyes widen. “Oh?” That’s some relatively good news to start the morning.

“Yes. Lord Ren is interrogating her as we speak.” And apparently Kylo’s torturing her, even better news.

“I see. A spy then?” 

“Yes, but I’m nearly certain she isn’t alone. Either there’s someone else on the ship, or someone’s supporting her remotely.”

Hux frowns. “Yes, I see. I’ll personally look into it further,” he says.

“Yes, sir. And I have doubled the number of troops on the lookout. Now that we’ve found one of them, the other is probably panicking.”

“Indeed. Continue.”

“Sir,” she says, and heads on past him. 

Hux makes a detour to the interrogation room he’s pretty sure _isn’t_ still completely destroyed in the hopes of catching Kylo still “interrogating” the spy. He’s pretty certain he’ll just silently drag the information out of her forcefully, but Hux likes to watch sometimes anyway.

When Hux reaches the one-way glass outside the only remaining interrogation room, he sees Kylo cracking his knuckles before pointing at one of the troops stationed at the door and saying commandingly, “Search Sector B, and get there before she tries anything.”

Kylo turns back to the girl, or woman really. She looks about mid-thirties, short brown hair, angry looking face, definitely some kind of solider or fighter if her build is anything to go by. She growls at Kylo, “You won’t find her, she’ll make sure of that.”

“On the contrary, it’s only a matter of time,” Kylo replies lowly. Hux bites his lip. He won’t admit it, but he does like the bucket at times like these; when it makes Kylo into something almost monstrous.

Hux feels an odd sense of possessiveness watching him calmly take apart the spy. There’s something even more terrifying about him when he’s calm like this. Hux is content in this moment to claim Kylo as his. Possibly too content. He’ll probably bite him several times later to prove it. 

Captain Phasma enters the room behind Hux. “I’ve received word that the other spy is near the energy reactor?” she says as a question.

“Kylo sent the troops to Sector B, so I would assume so,” he replies. He has a map of the base etched in his mind. Sector B is adjacent to one of the main energy reactors. His eyes widen suddenly, “That could be a problem,” he says quietly, realizing that if a tech-savy spy is near the energy reactor, they could reek all kinds of havoc.

The captain activates her comm. “All available troops to the energy reactor off Sector B, _now_.” She turns to Hux. “May I speak with the spy?” she asks. 

“Go ahead, and bring Kylo out, I’m sending him to find the spy before they try to damage anything vital.”

“Yes, sir,” she says. She goes in and Kylo comes out a moment later. 

“Bit of a voyeur aren’t you, General?” Hux get’s the feeling he’s raising an eyebrow. “I could feel you panting on the other side of the glass.”

“Now’s not the time. Get over to the reactor before the other spy can-“

And then everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee there will be no further delays, so if I don't get a new chapter up every day, I apologize in advance. I'll do my best to be timely however, given the chapters are pretty damn short. I don't expect longer than a few days wait at most. Thank you to everyone who has commented, subscribed, followed me on tumblr, left kudos, and bookmarked. I see all of you and I thank you profusely.


	14. You Make Me Feel So Weak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Under a week, thankfully. That was my goal. I wrote this chapter at around four in the morning and frankly had to stop myself from writing more because I do actually need to sleep from time to time. Also, over 1000 kudos? And all these comments? Um. What the actual fuck? Thank you? What. Um. Enjoy?

Hux reaches out blindly and snags a handful of Kylo’s cloak. “What’s happening?” he demands.

Kylo takes his arm and holds it. “The spy must’ve cut the power.” He breathes out of his nose loudly. “I’ll take care of her,” he says. “Stay here.”

“But-“

“You can’t see a damn thing, Hux. I’ll deal with it.”

“Do you expect me to just sit here patiently in the dark and twiddle my bloody thumbs?”

“Do whatever you want with your thumbs Hux, I don’t care. I just don’t want you running around in the dark and getting yourself killed.”

“So you do care?” Hux deadpans.

“I’d prefer you not dead.”

“So, yes then?”

“ _Hux_ ,” Kylo growls.

“Fine, fine. Go, make them suffer. Preferably in the most entertaining way you can manage.”

“As you wish, General.” And with that, Kylo lets go of his arm and takes off in what Hux can only assume is the right direction. 

Hux sighs in frustration, mostly with himself because he’s downright useless right now. Despite the strange effects this inadvertent bond he has with Kylo has afforded him, he still isn’t a force user. There’s no way he could navigate in the startling black the base has been plunged into. But more than that, he hates himself for the way his heart sped up when Kylo took off into the darkness. He hates himself for _worrying_ about Kylo Ren, who Hux is fairly certain couldn’t die if he _tried_. The man’s practically indestructible and certainly too damn stubborn to die, so why did Hux want to say “Don’t go,” or “It’s too dangerous?” It isn’t, he knows that, but he still had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying it, and he hates himself for that. 

What a pathetic _thing_ Kylo is reducing him too. 

There’s a rush of static in his ear and Hux adjusts his comm.

“Kylo?”

“It’s Captain Phasma, actually.” Hux detects a note of amusement in her voice and Hux is grateful it’s too dark for anyone at all to see him blush.

“What is it?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“I’ve been talking with our new friend here, Wila is her name, and she appears to be _very_ worried for her companion. I think it would be awfully difficult for her if something were to happen to her.”

“You shut the hell up!” comes the voice of the spy, Wila, in the background. She sounds panicked. It appears they’ve found a weak spot.

“Is that so?” Hux replies. “And would Wila’s companion feel the same if something were to happen to Wila?” 

“Oh yes, it appears so.” Wila says something Hux doesn’t quite catch. “She claims Tara will complete the mission regardless of what befalls her, but I don’t quite buy it, General.” Captain Phasma says with overt calm. Hux respects the captain; even he’s a bit unnerved by her efficiency sometimes. “I think Tara would become quite undone if something were to happen to her beloved.”

“ _Shut up,_ ” Wila yells. “Tara’s stronger than that,” she says harshly, but it sounds as if she’s crying. “She’ll do what she has to do, I know she will.”

Hux had a response all ready to go but it fled his mind at the word “beloved.” He suddenly realizes he’s no longer sure if he’d be able to sacrifice Kylo if it ever came down to it. And that’s a problem.

Hux had always held to success of the First Order above all else, including his own life. His life came second to that; so where does Kylo fit?

When they’d first met, he’d seen Kylo as a possible liability, a wild card, a knight to be easily sacrificed to protect the king. He didn’t trust Kylo; he was certain to ruin something and he did, in his way, time and time again, so how has Hux allowed him to become so _important_? 

It started when he began utilizing his skills, factoring him into his strategies, _relying_ on his unique abilities.

And now-

And now what?

What is it now?

Now, he doesn’t want to send him out. Now, he wants to keep him close, where he can see him. Close, where he can’t die. 

Why when Hux imagines himself a king upon a victorious throne, is Kylo Ren sitting triumphantly beside him? And why is the idea of that dream not coming to fruition so fucking painful?

If Hux wins this war, would it mean a bloody thing if he did it alone?

His thoughts are thankfully interrupted by Phasma. “Sir? Kylo and the battalion I sent have located the other spy." Wila makes a pitiful noise.

_Is that what love does?_

Hux doesn’t want to love. Hux _doesn’t want to love_.

“Tell Tara we have Wila and will kill her this instant if she doesn’t cooperate…no, wait.” He thinks about himself. He thinks about the words he wouldn’t want to hear. “Tell her we will cut of a finger for every minute she doesn’t cooperate.”

“Yes, sir,” Phasma responds. Wila moans horribly.

Hux waits several seconds and then switches his comm over to another channel. “Kylo?”

“What is it? I got the captain’s message.”

“I know.”

“What do you want?”

“Did you tell her?”

“Yes.”

“What did she do?”

Kylo sighs. “The boring thing, I suppose. She surrendered. No battle, no struggle. Lot of cursing. I suppose she wasn’t expecting a Sith Lord, either.”

“Excellent.” Hux doesn’t know why, but he truly means it when he says it.

“It wasn’t a very bright idea to infiltrate an enemy fortress with your girlfriend,” Kylo says loudly, probably speaking to Tara as well as him. “Best to come with someone you wouldn’t mind seeing dead.”

Hux swallows. He doesn’t hear a reply from Tara. “Not a very bright idea indeed,” he whispers, probably too quietly for Kylo to hear.

Or perhaps not, because a moment later Kylo says. “Unless, of course, there’s no chance of you dying. Then I suppose there’s not harm in it.” Hux can hear something like teasing in his tone.

Hux decides to do away with pretenses. “You can still die, Kylo.”

“Not really,” he answers. Hux opens his mouth to say something more, but Kylo interrupts him. “Hux, I think I’m allergic to you worrying about me. Honestly, I can already feel myself breaking out in hives. Stop it.”

“Fine.” The lights come back. Hux blinks agains the sudden light, dim as it is.

“I’ll be there with the spy soon. I’ll finish interrogating them. They may have useful information.”

“Yes.”

“Hux?”

“What?”

“I have no intentions of dying anytime soon and I hope you feel the same.”

“…I do.”

“Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a side note: I am rapidly running out of lyrics to title chapters with (because this got kinda out of hand) so I may change the song I'm ripping off in a few chapters if this keeps going. 
> 
> P.S. I already have one in mind, don't worry.
> 
> P.P.S. "Comments are a proven treatment for writer's block," said no doctor ever.


	15. Don't Unbutton Your Shirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Fast update right peeps? Thanks as always for the lovely support! And just so you know, I have changed the song I base my chapters on now. It is ironically (completely unironically considering I chose it) titled _Trouble_ by Rap Monster  & Jin. It is a K-Pop song. Yes, I really wanted to use a song of the same name, no I'm not sorry. Plus, it still totally fits. Enjoy!

Kylo interrogates the prisoners.

He does discover something interesting: There may be some valuable information hidden away on a nondescript planet. He wasn’t able to get any further details as of yet, but he will. 

Right now, however, he’s tired, and he knows Hux is waiting for him. He can feel it in his bones.

When he arrives at his door, he doesn’t even bother to knock.

“Rude,” Hux says, sounding subdued rather than angry. He’s laying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Kylo takes off his helmet. “What are you doing?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“How is that going for you?”

“It’s quite pleasant after today’s excitement.”

Kylo snorts and lays down next to him, face up, their shoulders overlapping. He observes the ceiling with great intensity. “You took hardly any part in that excitement,” he points out. “I believe I left you to twiddle your thumbs.”

Hux probably rolls his eyes but Kylo can’t actually see him. “And besides,” Kylo continues, “I believe you were the one who said he didn’t like near death experiences.” 

Hux sighs. 

“What’s wrong, Hux? No snappy comments to make? No insults?”

“Not really.”

Kylo turns on his side so he can look at him. Hux continues to watch the ceiling as if waiting for it to make a move. Or fall on their heads and crush them dead. This worries him only to the extent that Hux is being quiet and not a snarky bitch like he usually is and it’s very off putting. 

“What’s the matter with you?” Kylo asks.

Hux inhales through his nose and exhales through his mouth. “Are you really going to make me beg, or can I just ask politely?” he addresses the ceiling.

Kylo doesn’t bother to ask what he means. “Are you capable of asking nicely?”

Hux finally looks at him, thankfully with a slight smirk on his lips that puts Kylo’s heart at ease. He hadn’t even realized that he’d felt so uneasy. “I’m not sure. Fuck me?”

Kylo pretends to ponder this for a moment even though he can feels his hands twitching for Hux’s skin already. It feels like it’s been too long since he last touched him and he’d be worried if he weren’t so horny already. “Hmm…no. Try again.”

“Fuck me, _please_?” Hux is glaring at him and Kylo fights the urge to laugh.

“Better, but no.”

“Bloody hell, Kylo, you know you fucking want to so stop being an arse and shag me already.”

Kylo cracks a smile at his accent. “Well, that wasn’t very polite.”

“Sod off.”

“Hmm…I suspect you don’t want it very badly, then.”

“What if I told you I needed it?” He’s still glaring, but there’s something else, some kind of angry desperation, like he’s mad at himself for wanting, _needing_ it.

“Well that’s a bit like begging,” Kylo concedes.

“I need it, then.”

Kylo sighs. He wants to draw this out longer but Hux had unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and Kylo can see his pale skin and some collar bone and they are absolutely tantalizing. 

“Fine. I-“

Hux cuts him off with a kiss, climbing on top and straddling him. His kisses him sloppily, and it’s undeniably sexy given that the only thing Hux _ever_ does sloppily is kisses and hand-jobs. Everything else about him is pristine, immaculate, seemingly untouched, but in bed, he’s messy and Kylo can’t stand how hard it gets him.

Hux unbuttons his shirt the rest of the way and Kylo steals hard kisses along his neck, sucking bruises into it messily.

Hux seems adamantly against moaning, but he does it anyway after a while. Kylo likes that about him. He likes a lot of things he does.

He likes how quickly his skin turns pink at his touch. He likes how fast and dark it bruises. He likes that his lips get puffy and broken after they’ve kissed for too long. He likes that sometimes Hux has no filter and says all sorts of filth in his ear. He likes that he seems to prefer being completely naked. He likes the freckles on his shoulders. He likes the way he digs his hands into the mattress and bites the pillow when Kylo pushes into him. He likes that he leaves a trail of spit when he finally unhinges his jaw. He likes that Hux can’t seem to decide whether he’s in pain or ecstasy and still says, “Don’t stop.” He likes that even though Kylo’s pretty much silent, save for the occasion grunt he can’t quite suppress, Hux is louder, still trying to keep it in, but failing miserably. He likes that Hux pushes him off and flips them over so he’s sitting on top. He likes when Hux digs his finger nails in his shoulder with one hand and takes a handful of his hair in the other. He likes that even though he’s fucking Hux, he feels like the one with no control at all. Because he likes it so, so much, and it just isn’t fair. 

He really, _really_ likes watching him come. 

Hux removes his hand from where he was gouging nail marks into Kylo's scalp and says breathlessly. “I didn’t really have to beg, now did I?”

Kylo would laugh if he weren’t so fucking tired. “You did a bit.”

Hux slips off of him and Kylo winces, feeling oversensitive in every single one of his nerves. 

It’s fantastic.

“I did not,” he says, half-pouting. “You couldn’t _wait_.”

“Sure. Doesn’t change the fact that you said you _needed_ it.”

“That’s not begging.”

“Sure, General.” 

Hux rolls his eyes. “We should shower,” he says. “I’m not going to bed sticky.”

Kylo follows him into the bathroom where they end up taking a bath instead. Kylo likes Hux with his hair wet, that’s another thing. 

Hux leans back into him, running a hand through his hair, eyes closed, face not nearly as disapproving as it usually is. He’s almost smiling. Almost.

Kylo feels an unwanted tug somewhere in his chest as he stares at him and has to swallow around it. He rubs his thumb over the freckles on Hux’s shoulder. Hux looks about ready to fall asleep.

“Don’t sleep in the bath, Hux.”

“I won’t,” he mumbles unconvincingly, but he’s half asleep when Kylo all but drags him out of the tub. 

They share one towel and go to bed with nothing on.

Hux smells like unscented soap and mildly repressed disdain.

Kylo loves it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I actually like this chapter quite a bit at the moment, which is rare for me. It also means I'll start finding things to dislike about it sooner rather than later. You know, to be honest, sometimes I hate the act of writing, but you readers make it all worth while. It makes me love having written. So, thanks for that friends!


	16. I Can See Right Through You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello irony, my old friend...(she says cryptically).
> 
> Hi friends, I'm back! Here's a chapter! I love you all bunches! Enjoy!

_Kylo wanders through a dark forest; the trees look like scars against the snow._

_He feels as though he’s been here before, but he doesn’t know where he is. He turns round and round, seeing nothing but black trees and white snow until Hux appears. He isn’t surprised to see him, really._

_He reaches out a hand, tries to call out to him, but he finds he has no voice. He tries again, but his throat is clogged with something. He coughs, trying to get it out and blood splatters out onto the snow. He looks up wildly, horrified, and sees Hux staring back at him, one hand to his throat as blood pours from his mouth. When Kylo opens his mouth again, so does Hux. When Kylo reaches out his hand,_ so does Hux.

_He watches Hux fall to his knees, and can’t do anything about it. He watches him gasping for breath, or maybe Kylo is gasping. He watches him struggle not to die as his vision goes black. He doesn’t know whose vision is going black, his or Hux’s, or who’s drowning in their own blood, both or neither._

_He can’t save him. He knows_ that.

_He’s dying. They’re dying. Drowning. Blood, death, anger, and sadness-_

_The dark and the light._

_Hux is dead. Hux is dead. Hux is dead-_

He startles himself out of the nightmare with a sudden jolt of his knuckles smacking against the headboard. 

He draws his hand to his chest, breathing deep, trying to remind himself there isn’t any blood. No forest, no snow, just Hux and his warm bed.

He looks over, still trying to blink the after images away. He has to consciously remind himself that Hux is alive. And as if to prove the point, Hux scrunches up his face and opens his eyes blearily, probably woken by the sound of Kylo’s hand against the wood.

Kylo stares at him and Hux stares back. Finally he says, “What?”

Kylo inhales slowly, reminding himself that he can speak. There is no blood. “Nothing,” he says when he’s able.

Hux squints at him and the slowly reddening hand against his chest. He sighs. “You truly can’t go two minutes without a nightmare, can you?”

Kylo says nothing. The nightmares seem to go on and on, but they couldn’t last more than a few minutes before he wakes up. 

“Is it always the same?” Hux asks.

“What?”

“The nightmare.”

Kylo blinks at him. “No,” he says, then rethinks his answer. “Not always,” he amends. He has recurring dreams mixed in with all kinds of other dreams; there’s no respite from them.

“What was this one about?” Hux yawns, looking sleepy and unamused.

“Why would you want to know?”

Hux shrugs. “I’m not entirely sure I do. I suppose I wonder sometimes what’s going on in your head, if anything.”

Kylo glares at him and Hux continues to look thoroughly bored.

“You died,” Kylo tells him. “In my dream, you died.”

Hux says nothing; doesn’t even real change his facial expression. “Interesting. So that constitutes a nightmare? You’re not starting to _care_ about me, are you?”

Kylo licks his lips. “I died too. I think.”

“We both died?”

“I think. I wasn’t sure if you were really there, or if it was just me. Or just you.” Kylo bites down on his lower lip and drags a hand through his tangled hair. “I never know. I’m never certain. That’s the nightmare. No matter what the dream is about, I’m confused and lost.” He shouldn’t be telling Hux any of this. He shouldn’t _want_ to, but he does it anyway, almost unthinkingly.

“So that’s what you’re afraid of,” Hux states. “You hate the uncertainty.” Kylo doesn’t answer so Hux continues. “You’re so _tortured_ Kylo. So _conflicted_. It must be tiring.”

“And what are _you_ afraid of, Hux? Running out of hair gel? Or perhaps putting your arms in the goddamn sleeves of your coat where they belong?”

“I’m afraid of failure, Kylo,” he says, eyes sleepy but very serious. “I don’t want to fail.”

“Fail who, exactly?”

“I’m not sure. Me, perhaps. I’ve made some kind of expectation for myself; I’m afraid of not meeting those expectations.”

“So are your dreams filled with missed deadlines and failed attacks?” Kylo jokes. He isn’t sure he likes Hux revealing things about himself. Especially weaknesses. But is it really so surprising? The man likes order; he _needs_ to plan everything out down to the minutest detail. He’s almost obsessive compulsive when it comes to his strategizing. It makes sense that failure, in any capacity, would be his worst nightmare.

“Frankly, yes. But with dire consequences. When I do bother to dream, I dream of massive set backs caused by my actions. The destruction of Star Killer base. The collapse of the first order…all because of me.”

“You wouldn’t- couldn’t let that happen. You’re too neurotic.”

“I know that. That’s why they’re _dreams,_ Kylo, not reality.” He raises an eyebrow. “And, I thought we had agreed not to die.”

“We did.”

“And I don’t appear to be dead right now, and neither do you.”

“I suppose not.”

Hux reaches out, let’s his hand fall onto Kylo face none too gently. “Just a dream,” he says. Kylo can feel Hux’s thoughts clearly. They’re gentler than usual; slow, like a weak river current, almost a pool of unidentifiable emotion. 

Kylo has tried to figure out what all of it means; he lets the waves of feeling in, but he never knows what it all is. It’s all mixed up and distinctly _Hux_. Perhaps he isn’t meant to understand, merely experience.

“Just a dream,” Kylo repeats. 

“Yes.” Hux turns over slightly, wrapping his arm loosely around Kylo’s neck, his head buried in his shoulder. He’s back to sleep in less than a minute. 

Kylo blows on some of his hair, ruffling it a bit more. 

He splays his hand on Hux’s back. It’s warm. Kylo closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

_It’s just a dream…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed another episode of the "Kylo and Hux Try Not to Say Anything Meaningful to Each Other But Fail Epically Show." We'll be back with more episodes shortly. Let us know if you enjoyed this week's broadcast! See you next week!


	17. You Know Me Too Well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm not dead...ok, I'm a little dead. Sorry about the wait. I always underestimate how ridiculously busy I get once the new semester starts. Updates will likely be random at this point. I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best. I also want to apologize for not responding to comments this time. I really, really, REALLY appreciate all of them so much. They are ultimately one of the main reasons I get inspired to continue, so THANK YOU. Also, I now have an awesome beta who is correcting my things. I'll be updating the whole fic at some point in the near future to eliminate mistakes and typos. Any and all mistakes still remaining are mine and mine alone. ENJOY!

He must be dreaming.

His eyes swim with tears, rage, destruction as Hux tries to breath but ends up hyperventilating. 

Everything he worked for, _slaved over_ , gone. The rebels took everything. And they even took-

No. He’s still alive, he’s got to be. Snoke believes he is.

“Circle back around!” he calls to the captain. She looks back at him, no helmet, her eyes full of so many of the emotions Hux doesn’t want to see right now. One of them’s probably pity.

“Yessir,” she says. He’s surprised she doesn’t protest, or inform him of how slim the chance that Kylo’s still alive happens to be. He doesn’t want to hear it. He knows. But he also knows he’s still alive. It’s hardly a doubt.

 _Hardly._

He tries not to care, tries to see it as a loss for the cause not a personal one, but he knows that’s not true. If Kylo is gone (he isn’t), then he’s losing something significant. A friend? A lover? The words sound wrong. An enemy? A rival? Wrong, wrong, wrong.

What is Kylo Ren to him, _really_? A constant nuisance, a comforting presence, an unwelcome distraction, a good fuck? All of those things, but none meriting a proper title. Kylo Ren is what he is.

Kylo Ren is _his_.

And this sits uncomfortably in Hux’s mind. Hux shouldn’t have taken possession of Kylo Ren, and worse, Kylo Ren possess him too, in every sense. He doesn’t know how or why he let it happen. Why didn’t he break it off once Kylo got too close? Why couldn’t he tell what was happening before it was entirely too late? What the bloody hell was he thinking?

This… _thing_ with Kylo goes against nearly every single one of Hux’s deeply ingrained principles. It’s needlessly risky and a pain in the arse, two of the things Hux likes to avoid at all costs. And if it was just about the sex, that’d be one thing, but some nights they don’t have sex. They just lay there together and stare at the ceiling. Sometimes they bicker and argue. Sometimes they make fun of people they dislike. Other times they make fun of Phasma. A lot of the time, they say nothing and just breath on each other. Hux listens to the strange current of Kylo’s mind with detached interest and wonders why he’s so comfortable hearing it. 

Hux must be bloody mad for allowing this to happen.

Just last week, before everything went to shit, Hux woke up with Kylo’s face buried in the crook of his neck, fast asleep, and instead of getting up and doing something _productive_ he spent the better part of an hour carding his fingers through Kylo’s hair. 

It’s got to be some kind of disease, this thing. A disease that’s infected every aspect of Hux’s being. He knows what it’s called, but he’d cut out his own tongue before admitting it aloud. He doesn’t want to let it win, but he’s afraid it already has.

And then suddenly he feels him in his mind, quiet and flickering. Asking for something Hux can’t identify and doubts he can provide. He inhales sharply. 

“There, stop!” he commands.

Phasma does as she’s told, craning her neck to catch a glimpse of what Hux sees, but there’s barely anything to see through the trees. 

Hux is already opening the hatch before they’ve touched ground. His black boots hit the snow and crunch loudly with each frantic step. He whips his head left, then right, goes straight, stops, goes left. He isn’t sure if he actually knows where he’s going, but he feels like he does. 

The ground cracks slightly beneath him, knocking him off balance. He falls to his knees, hard, and sees that they leave spots of blood on the ground when he stands, his hands scraped and bleeding too, but he can barely feel it. 

He feels too warm and too numb all at once. His heart begins to beat faster, like he’s getting closer, or maybe like he’s seen this all before. Has he seen this all before? 

He doesn’t know.

He goes left, stumbles, then sees him, another black gash against the snow.

“Kylo,” he wheezes. Kylo doesn’t move.

Hux stumbles over a fallen tree as the ground breaks apart, shaking more by the second. They don’t have much time.

“Kylo,” he says louder. He approaches unsteadily. Kylo’s eyes are open. There is red amongst the black. He reaches him and kneels down beside his head. “Kylo.”

“I’m not strong enough,” Kylo chokes.

“No,” Hux agrees. “Come on. We have to go.”

“It wasn’t just a dream.”

“No,” Hux agrees.

Hux puts his arm around him and drags him up to his feet. 

Kylo’s bleeding from a gash in his face. Hux tries not to look at it too closely.

He focuses on placing one foot in front of the other, trying to see his own footprints in the snow to find his way back, and wondering how much longer before the base implodes. He wonders if they’ll make it or if they both die here and now. 

_It wasn’t just a dream._

“General!” He looks up. Phasma’s running toward him. “We have to hurry!” she says, taking half of Kylo’s weight.

He should thank her, but he doesn’t have the energy to speak anymore. He nods.

He realizes the shuttle is much closer than he thought. He may have gone in circles a bit looking for Kylo. 

They leave a trail of blood in the snow.

It’s soon gone along with the rest of Star Killer Base. 

They escape the dying planet with just enough time for Hux to watch his worse nightmare come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um...sadness? Sorry? Please love me anyway? Thank you?


	18. You Don’t Have to Make it So Obvious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely people! Here's a chapter in a timely manner. Sorta. And it's long (relatively speaking). And there's Phasma (plainly speaking). Thank you for all the comments and kudos and bookmarks because wow. ENJOY!

“Where are we going, sir?” Phasma asks rather gently after several tense minutes of silence.

“GTS III.” A “safe planet” of sorts. Hux named it himself. GTS stands for “gone to shit.” He didn’t actually tell anyone that, though, and he didn’t think he’d ever have to use it.

“Yessir.” She says nothing for a moment, then, “How is he?”

“He’ll live.”

“And you?”

“…I’ll live.”

They don’t say anything for the rest of the trip. Hux spares glances at Kylo and the fussy medical droids attending to him. He refuses to leave, and anyway, he doesn’t have anywhere to go, really. 

He becomes tangled in his own thoughts, his failures, all the things he could’ve done differently and everything that was wholly out of his control. And of course, he thinks about Kylo. Mostly about the simply fact of his being alive, then about Snoke’s cryptic words. 

Kylo needs time to recouperate before they rendezvous with the Supreme Leader. Hux will contact him when they reach GTS III. He’s already had the captain notify the remaining troops to meet up there as well.

He’ll figure it out when they arrive; see what resources are left, let Kylo rest, and decide where to go from here.

Hux looks at Kylo again, lying motionless, wrapped in bandages, and he’s never felt so helpless and out of his depth. He’s never failed like this before, only dreamed of it. Now that everything’s fallen apart, he doesn’t know what it is he’s supposed to do to put everything, or even himself, back together again. 

Hux goes to sit closer to Kylo once the droids are finished with him. He doesn’t sit there to be a comfort to Kylo, he sits there because it’s a comfort to himself. 

He falls asleep in an uncomfortable position and wakes to actual sunlight streaming in through the windows. 

He peers outside. They’re flying low, through a dense cloud cover that turns quickly to heavy rain. He suddenly regrets having them come to such a miserable planet. He should have picked GTS II. Sure, it’s a bit further away, but he recalls it being something of a sunny paradise at least.

“We’ll be landing in a moment, General,” Phasma’s voice comes through the speaker.

Kylo hasn’t awoken yet. Hux isn’t worried, though, he can feel that he’s mostly alright.

Once they land, they find they’re not the first arrivals. Several other escape shuttles made it to the planet before them and, to Hux’s slight surprise, more than he’d initially predicted.

Hux exits the shuttle and stands sadly in the rain, regretting GTS III more and more and wondering if it’s too late to change the order he gave. “General.” Phasma approaches. “If my count is correct, we’ve got over seven hundred troops here, and several hundred more inbound.”

Hux nods. “Good,” he says, wiping water out of his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something else, but can’t come up with anything.

“We should get inside, general.” Hux turns inadvertently towards the ship. “I’m sure the medical droids will take care of Lord Ren.”

“I wasn’t-“ The captain cuts him off with a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Come on, I think we’ve earned a bit of a rest.” She pushes him toward the base and Hux gives up on disobeying her. He’s too tired.

Before he knows it, he’s seated next to the captain, a table all to themselves in the mess hall, gazing at the faces of several hundred forlorn faces (and about as many helmets). They whisper amongst themselves and Hux feels like he should make a speech, but he’s not in a speech making mood at the moment.

Phasma probably wouldn’t allow it either, considering the intensity of her glare every time Hux even _attempts_ to stop eating. 

“Finish it,” she says.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I don’t care.”

Hux definitely _does not_ pout at her, and stick another bite of his food in his mouth out of pure spite.

“How were you able to find Lord Ren like that?” She asks, tapping her fork against the side of her empty bowl. “Back on the base.”

Hux side-eyes her. “Luck.”

“Bullshit.”

Hux sighs. “Why does it matter?”

“I suppose it doesn’t,” she says. “Are you in love with him?”

Hux chokes on his food while Phasma watches mildly. “What?” he coughs when he’s gotten the food out of his windpipe.

“Because I feel like that’s either a problem or very good.”

“Why…how could that be very good?”

She shrugs. “Love’s not bad,” she says.

“Of course it is. It’s idiotic and senseless and pointless and fake.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Fake?”

“Of all the things I just said, you’ve decided to fixate on fake?”

“Well, it is idiotic and senseless and arguably pointless, but I don’t know how you could claim its falsity.”

“Love doesn’t exist,” Hux asserts.

“So then, what do you feel about Lord Ren?”

“Hatred?”

“Aside from that.”

“More hatred? Annoyance? Pure disdain? Rage?”

“Oh, is that all?” she asks, waving her fork around condescendingly.

“Yes.”

“It wasn’t hate that found him, I wouldn’t think.”

“It was…it was the Force, I suppose.”

Phasma bends her wrist, rests her chin on it and looks at Hux contemplatively. “So that’s how you found him. I didn’t know you could use the Force.”

“I can’t.”

“Then how’d you find him with it? Wouldn’t it only work the other way around?”

“It would, but we’re…connected,” he hedges.

She smirks. “By love.”

“No!”

“Right.” Phasma turns away and Hux feels like he’s lost yet another battle. She looks at his near empty bowl of food from the corner of her eye. “I suppose you’ve eaten enough.”

Hux grimaces and stands, walking quickly away from the table. He can’t help but feel like a scolded child, finally let away from the dinner table, under Phasma’s unsettlingly omnipotent personality.

Hux frowns as he figures out where Kylo is and goes to him. He does not _sneak_. Sneaking would mean he’s guilty about something. Which he isn’t. Phasma just makes him feel like he’s done something wrong.

Kylo seems to be out cold when Hux enters his darkened room, but as soon as he sits down, Kylo opens his eyes.

The first thing he says is: “Where’s my helmet?” And Hux _really_ shouldn’t be surprised, but he’s a little surprised anyway.

“I don’t know, Kylo, probably blown to pieces,” he replies with feigned patience.

“Oh.”

Hux almost assures him that he’ll find a new helmet, and then realizes that the bucket’s finally dead. _The bucket is finally DEAD._ He can’t hold back a smirk.

“What are you smiling about?” Kylo asks, glaring at him through the bandages. It’s the opposite of intimidating.

“Oh, nothing.” _Something good came out of this fucking nightmare,_ Hux thinks a bit hysterically, _the bloody bucket’s gone for good._ “Nothing at all.”

“What now?” Kylo asks.

“I’ll figure it out.”

“We.”

“Hmm?”

“Nevermind.”

Hux sighs. “You should go back to sleep, Kylo.”

Kylo looks away for several seconds, seems lost in his own thoughts. He doesn’t look back, just asks, “And you?”

Hux stares at him. Then he climbs carefully to the other side of the bed and places himself directly in Kylo’s line of sight. He wants to be seen. “I’m tired,” he says.

Kylo’s forced to look at him, almost sadly, like he’s going to cry. “Yes. Me too.”

Hux nods jerkily and bites his lip and definitely _doesn’t_ finally break down and start crying all over Kylo’s shoulder. 


	19. Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I'm not (quite) dead. Sorry for the wait. Bunch of things got in the way of me finishing this fic. But that being said, I've finished and there are two chapters and I am posting them together. So, I'll see you at the end of the fic! Enjoy!

Kylo knows Hux is a bit broken, but he also knows better than to try to put him together all at once. Plus, Kylo’s not really in a position to try.

He lets Hux wander in and out of his room and grace him with nothing but long, contemplative silences. 

“Your face is healing better than I thought it would,” Hux says quietly one morning.

“I miss my helmet.”

“I don’t.”

“I’d say it’s about time we start heading off to rendezvous with Snoke,” Hux says. “Perhaps the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

Kylo can’t stop thinking about the girl. Rey. She haunts his dreams, her pretty face distorted into that of his father’s, his grandfather’s, his old master’s, himself. He can’t reconcile the distortions no matter how much he meditates on them. He’s fighting too many demons at once and so is Hux.

“Hux?”

“What?”

Kylo holds out his hand. Hux takes it and comes closer, laying down in bed beside him. Kylo kisses his face and hangs onto him for dear life. “I don’t know what to do anymore,” Kylo admits.

“Neither do I.”

“It’s like we’re drifting. Inertia or something like it, maybe. And I can’t stop it.”

Hux sighs, plays with Kylo’s fingers. “Drifting,” he says. “Yes.”

“I don’t know anything anymore,” Kylo says. “Why couldn’t I defeat her? Why aren’t I strong enough?”

“I don’t know, Kylo.” Hux takes a hold of his pinky finger, then his ring finger, middle finger and so on. Then he takes his whole hand in both of his, presses it to his head. “I don’t know anything either.”

So, you lose everything. And then what? Do you start picking up the pieces? Where do you even fucking begin? How do you remember what pieces fit where? Why isn’t Kylo as terrified of the future as he should be with Hux’s hair beneath his hand, the heat from his scalp bleeding into his palm? Why does he feel like maybe he can still make it with Hux standing beside him?

“I’m in love with you,” Kylo says sadly, like he’s just now realized some unfortunate mistake he’s made, and of course, love absolutely is a mistake.

“Yes, I know.” Hux sighs. “I’m sad to say that the feeling is somewhat mutual.”

“Somewhat?”

“Somewhat and sometimes. I typically hate you, but,” Hux shrugs one shoulder and sucks on Kylo’s index finger. “On occasion, I might love you.”

“Right, of course.” Kylo takes his hand from Hux’s mouth and kisses him instead, softly, disgustingly so.

“Bloody hell, Phasma is right isn’t she?” Hux says angrily when he pulls away.

“Hmm?”

“She claims our special bond is _love_ ,” Hux explains with distaste. “Have you ever heard anything cornier in your life?”

“Oh. Fuck.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I just wonder if Phasma and Snoke have spoken is all.”

They spend the day like that. Not doing much of anything. Touching, kissing, staring, wondering. 

Kylo looks at Hux as if he’s got all the answers, Hux looks back the same way. Kylo wonders where exactly he went wrong. He thinks it must’ve been that first time he touched Hux, jostled him just slightly out of alignment. He thinks it was then that he set them on a collision course. Problem is, the destruction’s so beautiful he can’t stop staring at it. Like two stars colliding. People always treated them like they’d combust. Apparently, this is what combustion looks like. 

It’s far softer than he expected.

“Hux,” Kylo says quietly.

“Hmm?” Hux is half-asleep by now and looking significantly younger than usual. 

“I want to get stronger so we never have to lose again.”

“Do that,” Hux says. 

He doesn’t say, I want to get stronger so you won’t fail ever again. So we won’t die. So we can sit on top of the universe and look down at the wreckage we caused. He doesn’t say, I want to get stronger for _you_ , or for _us_. That goes unsaid, of course. Kylo has limits to how much sap he can put up with, but Hux probably hears it anyway. 

“Do that,” he repeats. “If you’re weak, become strong.”

“Fix it,” Kylo says. _Fix it_.


	20. Epilogue

Kylo’s training is going well, but because of it, he can’t see Hux as much as he’d like to, and besides, Hux is quite busy with his own end of things.

Then again, it suits them alright. Kylo is more aware than ever of Hux’s mind. He can feel his presence from nearly anywhere now and it’s embarrassingly comforting. It’s a constant pressure on his mind, the exact opposite of anxiety and fear, as if Hux is pushing on all the parts of his brain that make him calm and content. 

And he sees him every night. And sometimes they have mind blowing sex, and sometimes they’re both so tired they barely say goodnight. It’s all very domestic really, their own version of domesticity at least. The version that includes building a galactic empire from the ground up and training to be the greatest, most evil Sith Lord there ever was. 

It also involves late night conversations, a disproportionate amount of bubble baths, breakfasts in bed and everyone probably making fun of them behind their backs, but still. They pride themselves on being the most powerful couple in the galaxy; there’s something a bit satisfying in that.

“Your bond’s gotten stronger,” Snoke muses, one day, no longer hidden behind holography. They’ve taken possession of an abandoned temple, once used by the Siths of old, Snoke tells him.

“Has it?” Kylo asks innocently. He’s in no mood to admit that Snoke knew all along. Hux has been avoiding Phasma’s jeering looks for the past few weeks as well. How is it that people can _tell_? And it’s downright annoying they seem to carry so much smugness along with it. Sure, maybe they knew all along, but still, it’s rude.

“It has. And it’s far more stable now. How curious…”

“Curious indeed.”

“It seems that’s one less thing I have to teach you, Ren.”

Kylo turns to Snoke, inclines his head. He’s uncomfortably helmet-less, but Hux is taking his sweet time finding a new one. So much time, in fact, Kylo is wondering if he plans of finding one at all. “Please, master, teach me everything you can.”

“I intend to…”

“So, how was class?” Hux asks that evening. He’s laying on his stomach, completely naked and a little damp from the bath. Kylo guesses his ass has got to be a little bit sore, too.

Kylo rolls his eyes, but he’s still smiling. “Informative.”

“Learn any new evil force powers?” He lays his head down on his arm and gazes at Kylo sleepily. This is when Hux is at his best. This is when Kylo’s heart does very unwanted things and he feels like he could smile stupidly at Hux for the rest of his life.

Kylo rolls on his back so he doesn’t have to look at him directly. “Not really. I’m working on it.”

“Hmm.”

“How was work?”

“Things are progressing steadily. That’s the best I can say. Galactic empires weren’t built in a day, you know.”

“Knowing you, you wish they were.”

“Of course I do. But to my ire, people are vastly unreliable. And slow. And a pain in the arse.”

Kylo blindly reaches out and rubs a hand down Hux’s back. “Poor thing,” he teases. “Having to deal with _people_.”

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t hate people as much as I do.”

“Oh, I’m not. But I’m not the one that has to deal with them on a buerocratic level.”

Hux sighs. “Yes, and how lucky you are.”

Kylo starts smiling again. This fucking love thing is absolutely terrible. Fortunately, so is Hux; maybe it evens out.

“Hux?”

“Yes?”

“You’re terrible. I love you.”

Hux smirks directly at him, but it’s somehow softer, nearly a genuine smile. He says, “I know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, that's it. I was going for a "hopefully they'll take over the galaxy together in the future because evil space boyfriends are evil" type of ending because as you may have noticed, I'm not good enough at PLOT to do the whole redemption arc thing any justice. I hope you liked it anyway. It was a bit lighter and more humorous in tone than I usually manage, so yay? I don't know when or if I'll be doing another kylux fic but I may or may not have just ordered the movie on blu-ray so chances are SOMETHING might happen. Also, I fucking love this fandom, so there you go. Thank you SO, SO much for all of the comments and for sticking with me. I love you all! See ya!


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